Using stun guns to defend yourself during an attack

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (FOX 46 CHARLOTTE) - A woman was grabbed from behind in a scary attack by a man with a knife at a bus stop on South Boulevard Sunday night. Police say the 23-year old she used a stun gun to fight off her attacker.

“It sounds like she had the perfect tool at her disposal to be able to escape that situation,” said Mitch Hyatt, Vice President of Hyatt Guns on Wilkinson Boulevard.

Some stun guns look like a cell phone. When they make contact with someone’s skin, they shoot a charge through their body, incapacitating them.

The main difference between North Carolina and South Carolina laws on stun guns is that in North Carolina, you have to carry stun guns out in the open. That means technically they have to be outside your purse.

“You can’t carry it on an airplane, anywhere that’s going to be checking your bag, if you’re going to a Panthers game or a Hornets game, you’re not going to be able to take it into those venues,” Hyatt said.

The same laws apply to tasers, but tasers work differently.

“A taser operates a little bit more like a hand gun where it actually shoots a projectile cartridge,” Hyatt explained.

“Most people may ask for a taser. They end up shopping for a stun gun once they see the differences because of the ease of operation, not having to aim, the difficulty of producing it quickly.”